As Long Island pubs go, The Cortland in Bay Shore has cultivated a reputation for doing things in singular fashion – including its incredibly popular weekly “Rock-Paper-Scissors” contest (held every Thursday) – but come Wednesday, Feb. 8, the busy bar is doing something practically unheard of: it’s pretending to shut down.

And the pretense goes to great lengths, as The Cortland Craft Beer...

When country music nights starting popping up around the Island’s nightlife scene in 2011 -- after years of having Matty T’s Roadhouse in Deer Park as the sole source for a local honky-tonk – the idea of whether nights of line-dancing and live acts playing cowboy-styled stuff could possibly keep arriving was novel.

After all, Long Island only recently saw the arrival of WJVC-FM “My Country”...

With the Giants all the rage these days as they get ready to take on the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI, there are many ways to celebrate the big game.Some involve parties in the home, others at restaurants and bars. But how many among us wish, deep down, that perhaps we were actually playing some football come Sunday, Feb. 5?

If taking part in a gridiron-style activity is your cup...

Saturday nights are often the nights to head out to party, and for many that means dance floors, DJs spinning and crowds mixing it up. However, if you’d rather mix with paints than patter in a pub, perhaps this artistic adventure will be up your alley.

It’s an ongoing project called “Shifting Reality Across Long Island,” and the latest installment is on Saturday, Feb. 4, at The Brick House...

Long Island has a healthy retro scene for sure – between frequent new wave parties, performances from freestyle artists and DJs who spin classics, the term “what’s old is new again” certainly holds true in Nassau and Suffolk counties.

But . . . what about grunge rock?

It may be hard for some to imagine, but the days of bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden dominating the radio...

The Ward Melville Heritage Organization is marking the Chinese New Year with a two-hour gala good for the whole family.

A festival that runs for 15 days, it is a welcome to the impending spring season, and it entails feasting, gift-giving and a commemoration of customs – as well as a time for gathering and publicly rejoicing. Also known as the “Lunar New Year” and the “Spring Festival,” it...

Come Thursday, Long Island is set to welcome a new nightlife option to the scene: the Middle Country Beer Garden of Centereach.

In a collaboration between Long Island club impresario Greg Pranzo (of marketing firm AListStatus.com) and Mulcahy’s owner John Murray Jr., the (now-former) eastern branch of the two Mulcahy’s club-style sports bars will be reborn as The Middle Country Beer Garden...

Although it may seem strange to today's younger nightclub set, there was a time when the songs of bands like Depeche Mode, The Cure and The Smiths got almost as much attention as pop music and dance on Long Island. For those unaware, those acts belong to the "new wave" genre. And a rewind back to 1980 to 1995 finds several clubs on Long Island that featured successful nights dedicated...

In a time when dance music is virtually all virtual, many DJs and producers are able to use samples and programs to create almost all the beats one might hear while spending the night in a Long Island lounge or club. Yet at one time, dance music, like other music, was played by bands, with disco the last large era to feature hit songs crafted strictly by musicians.

There are cover bands, however,...

Remember every time you were out at a club and you heard the DJ playing some songs you didn’t really like, or maybe making mistakes on the mixes? You may have said, “I can do better than that.” If you have – or if you’re one of many who mixes on home equipment but has never taken it to a crowd – this is a night for you to take your records out and show off your skills.

Starting Jan. 19, every...